Advancing Scholarship and Service through Community Engagement
On April 22, the School of Graduate Studies hosted a virtual event titled Exploring Community Engagement as a Pathway to Professional Growth, bringing together graduate students, alumni, and staff for a meaningful conversation about the role of community-based work in academic and professional development.
Moderated by Dr. Ramazan Güngör and co-organized with Karen Ardizzone from Student Volunteer Engagement and Ghada Endick from Graduate Student Life, the session featured Rutgers alumni and recent winners of the SGS Community Engagement Award. Henah Velez and Tiffany Smith shared their journeys from student volunteerism to impactful careers in education, nonprofit leadership, and financial empowerment. Award recipients Rebecca Risman, Allison Bond, and Sean Stratton reflected on their research and service initiatives, ranging from campus wellness programming and science communication to community-led environmental health research.
The event also included an informative presentation by Karen Ardizzone, who provided practical strategies for initiating ethical and reciprocal community partnerships, emphasizing the importance of flexibility, clear communication, and reflective practice. Her talk offered valuable guidance for graduate students eager to build long-term, respectful collaborations with community organizations.
Participants engaged in a lively dialogue on building trust, navigating institutional barriers such as IRB restrictions, balancing research goals with community needs, and the challenges of ensuring mutual benefit in community-engaged work. Several attendees, including current PhD students and aspiring graduate students, contributed their experiences and aspirations, enriching the conversation with diverse perspectives.
An interest form was shared to sustain the momentum and explore the creation of an ongoing network for engaged scholars in training. If you are interested in community engagement, service, and outreach, you can fill out the form here.
Stay tuned for future events in this growing initiative to support community-engaged scholarship at Rutgers.